Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Use words wisely in marketing communications

I've been hearing a radio advertisement for the American Stroke Association for some time now and it has bothered me since the first time I heard it.

A transcript of the ad follows:

{Struggling voice}: The First Amendment reads, “the people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak”

Narrator #1: The odds are, the person you just heard is an African-American.

Narrator #2: Because African-Americans are twice as likely to suffer a stroke as white Americans.

Narrator #1: That’s twice as likely a stroke can rob you of your freedom to speak your mind.

Narrator #2: The freedom to shout from mountain tops.

Narrator #1: The freedom to tell your mother you love her.

Narrator #2: And it’s twice as likely a stroke could take your life.

Narrator #1: Therefore it’s twice as crucial for us to do something about preventing a stroke.

{Same struggling voice}: Learn how you can help beat the odds.

Narrator #1: Start by calling 1-888-4-stroke or go online to strokeassociation.org.

Narrator #2: Join the power to end stroke.

Narrator #3: A public service message brought to you by the American Stroke Association and the Ad Council.

Here’s what bothers me about the ad.

Strokes often rob people of their ability to speak, not their freedom of speech. To imply that the loss of the ability to speak due to stroke is somehow related to the loss of the American freedom of speech by referencing the U.S. Constitution is, well, misguided.

As marketing communication goes, the American Stroke Association and the Ad Council could have taken a better approach with an issue directed at a minority population rather than toying with the notion that a constitutional freedom is somehow being taken away.

I appreciate the message that those at higher risk for strokes should know they are at higher risk and inform themselves on the topic. I also applaud the strategy of informing all of us about the risks. I just wish they would have thought a little more about how they conveyed that message.

More information…

Amendment I to the U.S. Constitution

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

About the risk of strokes.

Top 100 Brandz

Millward Brown Optimor has compiled its list of the top 100 global brands as measured by their dollar value.

The top 10:

1. Google
2. GE
3. Microsoft
4. Coca Cola
5. China Mobile
6. Marlboro
7. Wal-Mart
8. Citi
9. IBM
10. Toyota

A direct link to the report with the complete list and description of methodology:
http://www.millwardbrown.com/Sites/optimor/Media/Pdfs/en/BrandZ/BrandZ-2007-RankingReport.pdf

Who or what is the consumer?

“The consumer isn’t stupid, the consumer is your mother”
- David Ogilvy

Who decides what your brand is?

“You don’t decide what your brand is, the consumer does”
- Marty Neumeier

Do you read ads?

"People don’t read advertising, they read what interests them, and sometimes, it’s an ad”
- Howard Luck Gossage

PR and Advertising in Branding

I've heard very strong arguments that public relations is the way a strong brand is truly established and advertising is how the brand is maintained. In fact, not too long ago, authors Al and Laura Ries devoted an entire book, The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR, to reinforce and illustrate this idea (Harper, 2002).

If you think about this theory for a moment, it makes a lot of sense.

If a brand is successful in making a connection with people and communicating its distinct advantage then people will want to tell others about it and word-of-mouth advertising will develop naturally —- not to mention writers in the press will want to write about the brand. Once that type of differentiation and story telling is established in the market's mind, advertising can help maintain and shape the brand.

Just don't confuse organic word-of-mouth with "buzz" marketing or Paid-For Word-of-Mouth. If you have to pay people to talk about your brand, then what you are really doing is investing in advertising. Don't let the new-fangled agencies out there make you believe that it is anything else.

The Top 25 Marketing Blogs

Top 25 Marketing Blogs according to Viral Garden.

As of Nov. 7:

1. Seth's Blog - 8,987 (-27)(LW - 1)
2 - Duct Tape Marketing - 2,264 (-17)(LW - 2)
3 - Search Engine Guide - 1,427 (+72)(LW - 3)
4 - Daily Fix - 1,088 (+2)(LW - 5)
5 - Logic + Emotion - 1,081 (-14)(LW - 4)
6 - Diva Marketing - 991 (+17)(LW - 6)
7 - What's Next - 965 (+6)(LW - 7)
8 - The Engaging Brand - 759 (+2)(LW - 8)
9 - Influential Marketing - 722 (+6)(LW - 10)
10 - Brand Autopsy - 709 (-8)(LW - 9)
11 - Drew's Marketing Minute - 704 (-8)(LW - 11)
12 - Converstations - 669(-10)(LW - 12)
13 - Church of the Customer - 651 (+2)(LW - 13)
14 - Jaffe Juice - 584 (+3)(LW - 14)
15 - Conversation Agent - 567 (+4)(LW - 15)
16 - The Viral Garden - 538 (-13)(LW - 16)
17 - Marketing Roadmaps - 533 (+2)(LW - 17)
18 - Branding and Marketing - 526 (-3)(LW - 18)
19 - Marketing Headhunter - 521 (No Change)(LW - 19)
20 - Customers Rock! - 451 (-8)(LW - 20)
21 - Servant of Chaos - 439 (-16)(LW - 21)
22 - CK's Blog - 436 (-1)(LW - 22)
23 - Experience Curve - 402 (+6)(LW - 23)
24 - Greg Verdino's Marketing Blog - 380 (-3)(LW - 24)
25 - Chaos Scenario - 348 (+1)(LW - 25)

The goal of marketing

A brief review of current online discussion reveals that few marketers can succinctly describe to non-marketing people what the primary goal of marketing is.

The goal of marketing is to drive sales.

Is that too succinct?

Let me try a slightly longer version to clarify.

The goal of marketing is to drive sales over the long-term.

I hope the latter was not too verbose.

Discussions about the marketing function typically involve how to choose the best marketing tactics and utilize and coordinate those tactics to drives sales. Sure there is a lot to it as there is a great deal involved in acquiring new customers and maintaining positive relationship with existing customers and doing so in a way that is profitable over the long-term.

True marketers realize that marketing is a long-term strategy that must also involve product development and an ongoing effort to satisfy customers to ever-higher levels of satisfaction while at the same time ensuring that one's offering represents unique value that cannot be found in competitive offerings.

Marketing to drive short-term sales is termed "sales promotion". Marketing to drive long-term sales is called, well, "marketing", but there should be no doubt that the goal of marketing is to drive sales.

Original knockoffs?

The Oct. 22 issue of Brandweek had an article about how Wal-Mart commissioned an agency to redesign the packaging for its private brands of soda: Choice Cola, Twist Up and Mountain Lightning.

Now, I've linked to the article above and since I don't have the rights to any of the photos of the product, I'll have to direct you to Murray Brand Communication's site so you can see the new designs for yourself. (Murray had enough sense to not show their design for Mountain Lightning at their website but InventorSpot.com has a photo with some great tasting notes from many fine, house brand sodas.)

I'll give Murray Brand Communications a little credit for the new look of Sam's Choice Cola, but their other two designs are a complete joke.

According to Brandweek, the strategy was "not to 'knock off' the national brands" and the ideas was to come up with designs that were "confident, distinctive and innovative".

What a joke!

There is nothing distinctive or innovative about the new package designs for Twist Up or Mountain Lightning. They are completely unoriginal and look like they were the result of a bar mishap where the barkeep mixed Pepsi's Mountain Dew with Coors and Tropicana's Twister with a dash of 7-Up.

And for Tom Kane of Murray Brand Communications to whine publicly in the Brandweek article that "we had only 90 days to develop three concepts for each sub-brand" is shameful. I'm not sure if Murray Brand Communications realizes how bad they look right there in the pages of Brandweek.

Murray Brand Communications ought to be ashamed of themselves for their lack or originality and for their public whining about their client's requirements.

Oh, but I guess if sales increased 10% then all is forgiven.

Maybe to some, but give me a break.

This is an example of the worst that advertising agencies have to offer and I'm not entirely sure how Brandweek chose this case study to hold up as a shining example.

Although, now I have new product ideas for Coors Dew and Sprite Twist. I must go to my lab and start mixing.

Business vision

Identifying and communicating a clear vision is one of the most important functions a business leader can perform. All business leaders should understand the basic elements of visioning and all marketers should know how to communicate that vision to all stakeholders and how to leverage it in brand strategies.

Creating a clear and effective vision delivers many benefits to the business. Not only does a clear, shared vision help define the values of the company and its employees, but it also helps guide the behavior of all employees. A strong vision also leads to productivity and efficiency.

Companies and organizations everywhere invest enormous resources in marketing and selling their products and services. Many of these organizations have a strong sense of who they are and why people should want to conduct business with them. Sadly, however, many organizations fail to have a strong sense of their own guiding principles and cannot clearly articulate their vision or communicate unique aspects of their brands in a way that compels customers and prospects to develop emotional attachments and buy their products and services.

Linking the vision and values of the organization to the brand promises made by the organization can propel the value of those brands into a whole new realm of business performance.

The following two articles expand.

Crash course in visioning

Linking vision & values to brands

Ad agencies and you the client

Ad agencies and traditional marketing firms are most concerned about impressing you with fancy images and slick graphic design because that’s how they make their money. They impress you and you pay them before you can measure the actual results of any given campaign that they create for you. Sweet deal for them, isn't it?

Somewhere lost along the way is the fact that effective marketing must speak to the ultimate customer, offer superior value to them and communicate with words and imagery that resonate and motivate them to modify their behavior in some way. Usually this behavior modification means that you make a strong enough case that somebody purchases your product or service -- and they are happy they did so long after the fact.

Also lost or often concealed from you is the fact that building brand awareness is nearly worthless (even though this is probably counter to everything you've been told by ad agencies) without building strategic brand awareness that differentiates and builds brand preference amongst people who actually spend money for your type of product.

This latter type of marketing is more difficult to achieve but it is precisely the kind of marketing that builds great brands. It is also the kind of brand building that makes cash registers sing. Brands that benefit both you and your customers over the long-term. Brands that ensure your profitability and customer satisfaction. This is the kind of marketing you should be trying to achieve.

Forget about the way brands were built yesterday. Yesterday is gone. Mass media are not so "mass" anymore. Consumers are different. Technology is different. Attention spans are shorter. Cynicism is everywhere. True connections are more important than ever.

Are you ready to step outside of the ad agency box and listen to more effective ways to approach your marketing? Are you ready to embrace the marketing of the future?

Is green marketing smart strategy?

“Green marketing” is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe or that at least represent much lower impact on the environment than alternative products.

Green marketing therefore can incorporate promoting a broad range of activities such as new and improved production methods, product modifications, changes in package design and different ways to conduct business operations, among other things.

Green has always been smart strategy. Think about it for a minute. Does any rational person really strive to willfully incorporate waste and destructive practices into their business operations? Of course not.

Since my very early days in the Boy Scouts developing a love for the natural wonders of this earth I have believed that treading lightly is a worthy exercise, that leaving a natural place cleaner than one finds it is smart practice and that only using as much as one needs is courteous to others as well as the environment. (As a father and parent, I have subsequently learned that teaching such principles to my children also has the side benefit of saving me money!)

Lately, however, there is a growing trend for companies to proclaim their green credentials in their marketing communications and wear their environmentalism on their corporate sleeve. Is this new wave of green marketing smart strategy?

Greenclaiming is not guaranteed to stimulate sales, especially for companies out to make a profit for their owners and shareholders. The risk of backlash is also very real.

I recently came across an article written by Pamela Eichenbaum entitled, “Greenwashing – Ethics Aside, It’s Just Bad Business.” In the article, Pamela points out that with so many companies loudly touting their green credentials, there is a risk of desensitization and there is no guarantee that companies will benefit from the practice. She also states that no matter how green you claim to be, you might just invite criticism that you are not green enough.

I’d like to go even a step farther than Ms. Eichenbaum.

Today’s modern environmental movement is not only a social movement but also a scientific and political movement. There are different shades of green to this movement.

Towards the dark green end you will find anti-capitalists who are opposed just about everything that modern, industrialized society represents. If you are a for-profit concern, you will never win with this group.

On the lighter green end of the spectrum you will find highly-educated, upper-class, environmentally-conscious people who wish to be seen as virtuous through their conspicuous consumption of sustainable, environmentally-friendly, organic and often higher-priced products so they can be viewed, for social reasons, as elites who operate with the proper motives.

Of course, the movement includes people of many stripes in between, but as you can see, the green movement is not a monolith that will guarantee that a capitalist company or organization will be rewarded for flying a green banner. In fact, far from guaranteeing it, it will probably bring skepticism and scrutiny from many. Doing so may also have people questioning whether you are trying to position your brand as morally superior which might, in fact, come across as condescension.

Creating strong brands that make unique promises of value and that deliver on those promises every time is one of the most important things any marketer can do. Not only should brands be differentiated, but they must also represent superior value that cannot be found anywhere else. With so many companies claiming to be green these days, claiming to be green is no longer a point of differentiation and making such claims potentially opens you up to scrutiny and criticism that you are not green enough or that you only claim to be green in order to increase profits or to gain some other selfish benefit.

As a marketing strategist, my advice is to think very hard before you decide to wear green on your corporate sleeve and shout it loudly via your marketing communications.

Yes, I know it is the trendy and politically correct thing to do these days, but doing so will make you just like every one else trying to cash-in on the trend and possibly even backfire on you or make you look disingenuous.

If you are a business owner or manager who truly believes -- and always has -- in conserving resources and treading lightly, then you won’t be able to stop that philosophy from permeating your organization and affecting organizational behavior such that your organization acts in accordance with your beliefs. You will get more satisfaction from walking the walk than you will from talking the talk.

If I could give marketers (and politicians and green activists!) one bit of advice on the topic, then I would advise them to lead by example rather than preach to others how to lives their lives. Nothing speaks as loudly as living authentically.

Chances are that those who have true concerns will ask you about your practices and your green credentials will be a wonderful, hidden value that comes as an added, free bonus along with all the other wonderful and unique benefits delivered by your brand.


Greenwashing - Ethics Aside, It's Just Bad Business by the Kolbrener branding agency.

Don’t let a motorcycle run over your cookies

There seems to be some confusion outside of marketing departments as to the difference between a line extension and a brand extension. Hopefully I can help remove the confusion and help ensure the proper terminology is used.

A line extension is when you develop a new product closely related to one of your existing product brands and launch the new product under the same brand name in the same category. The new product is designed to meet somewhat different needs of customers. By using a successful brand name to introduce additional items in a given product category, line extensions typically represent a less expensive, lower risk alternative for increasing sales. An example of this is Oreo sandwich cookies introducing Double Stuf and Oreo Minis.

A brand extension is when you use one of your existing brands to launch a new or modified product in a new category. A brand extension gives a new product instant recognition and faster acceptance while saving much of the high advertising costs usually associated with launching and building a new brand. The brand extension strategy, however, is not without risk because you run the risk of confusing or diluting the image and value of the original brand. Sure there are successes such as the Honda brand being able to simultaneously remain healthy in several categories such as cars, motorcycles, lawnmowers and generators, but Bic was unsuccessful in launching women’s underwear, Harley Davidson perfume never went anywhere and nobody really wanted McDonald’s pizza.

When choosing a new product strategy , remember that a brand is an identifiable entity that makes specific promises of value and those promises of value might not make sense in a new category. The same brand name must stand for the same promises.

The world's only online exchange about branding?

OK. Let's discuss something.

BrandChannel.com uses the tagline, "The world's only online exchange about branding, produced by Interbrand".

If there are other online exchanges about branding (such as this one or BrandTrellis.com), does this mean Interbrand has chosen a poor tagline or positioning statement for their website brand? Should they change their tagline? Would they be OK if they simply removed the comma?

I'm very interested to hear your thoughts.

Top 30 Customer Loyalty Brands

It's time for the annual list of the top brands according to consumer loyalty, from Brand Keys:

1. Google
2. Yahoo.com
3. Avis
4. L.L. Bean
5. Coors
6. J. Crew catalog
7. Samsung cell phone
8. Sam Adams
9. Hyatt
10. Verizon Wireless
11. Amazon.com
12. Target
13. Lowe's
14. Sears catalog
15. Marriott
16. Fairmont hotels
17. Netscape.com
18. Canon office copiers
19. Miller Genuine Draft
20. Panasonic plasma HDTV
21. True Value
22. Eddie Bauer
23. Victoria's Secret
24. Land's End
25. H&M
26. Apple
27. Blackberry
28. Sony LCD HDTV
29. Treo
30. Samsung analog TVs

Some marketing definitions

If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying "Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday," that's advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that's promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor's flower bed, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that's public relations. If the town's citizens go the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that's sales.

The best way to brand?

There is no universal single best way to brand product(s), of course, but the best way for ~you~ to brand your product(s) depends upon many factors.

The first thing to study is your competition. Who is your competition and what are their positions in the minds of consumers? What is your vision for your company and what are your core values? How do those compare with others in your industry and what advantages, tangible and intangible, do you hold over your competition? What unique qualities will you bring to the marketplace? What are the benefits associated with doing business with you?

The answer to these questions can help lead you toward determining a strong brand position for you that is defensible and profitable over the long-term.

Co-branding or joint promotion of adjoining businesses

An interesting discussion over at http://www.BrandTrellis.com that discusses how or whether to co-promote two separately-branded restaurants that are adjoining and owned by the same owner.

http://www.brandtrellis.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=9cd9d57f67850d5d9162035127d216ca&topic=11.0

The cart and the horse

For heaven's sake, do not let your ad agency get back to you with several concepts from which to choose and then change your message to match the winning concept. This happens all too often when somebody thinks of a clever statement after seeing an image or photo.

Graphics, photos and images are there to support and reinforce your core message. Make sure your message is clear before you ask for creative concepts and then only choose concepts that stay directly on message.

A brand that is not crystal clear about what it is saying is not much of a brand at all. If your message can be swayed based upon graphic design, then you must re-examine the messages you are sending.

All advertising agency employees should read this article

Tom Collins has a great ad makeover and article in the current issue of Direct Magazine. Perhaps even more valuable than the article and makeover are his quotes of David Ogilvy like:

"Advertising agencies…are now infested with people who regard advertising as an avant-garde art form. They have never sold anything in their lives. Their ambition is to win awards at the Cannes Festival. They bamboozle their unfortunate clients into paying millions of dollars a year to exhibit their originality."

and

"On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar. The headline is the ‘ticket on the meat.’ Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising.

What you're really doing with your headline, then, is separating out the readers who would be interested in what you are selling from those who wouldn't.

If they aren't prospects for what you sell, you don't want them reading your ad. Period."

Anyone involved in creating ads should read this article.

Why do I blog?

I was recently interviewed and asked why I blog about marketing and branding.

Why do I do it?

I believe that the best way to improve the quality of all marketing is to help educate as many people as possible about marketing so not only will marketers get better at what they do but consumers will demand better marketing, recognize it when they see it and reward those marketers who get it right.

Therefore, blogging about marketing and branding is a very good way to help marketers and consumers alike benefit from better, more ethical and value-driven marketing tactics.

iPhone pricing scandal? Think different(ly)

Apple seems to have upset many of its customers by recently dropping the price of the iPhone by a couple hundred dollars a mere couple months after its introduction. Is this outrageous behavior on Apple's part?

Let's look a little deeper.

Price skimming is a well-known pricing strategy whereby a product is introduced and the company charges the highest possible price that buyers who most desire the product will pay. Demand for products tends to be inelastic during the introductory stage of the product life cycle--especially if the product is unique with little competition.

Not only does price skimming strategy help offset development costs that might not be recovered if the price is set too low, but it can also help companies keep demand in line with their initial production capabilities. Also, once competition enters the market, prices will be driven downward making it even more difficult to recover development costs.

Apple knows that it has a powerful brand whose loyal followers will rush out to purchase just about any product they launch (at just about any price). These loyal customers understand that they are not rushing out to buy the product out of absolute necessity, rather they are fulfilling a desire to be trendy and have bragging rights because they are one of the first to own the hot, trendy, new Apple product. Yes, they even understand they are paying a premium to own the product a few months before the rest of the masses.

To those iPhone users who now complain about the recent price drop I say this: You are not unhappy that you overpaid. I saw you standing in those long lines to happily plunk down your $600. You aren't upset that you had the phone before the masses either. You are simply unhappy because you think the masses will now catch up too soon.

Don't get upset with the Apple brand. Just examine what the brand means to you and be happy that you are able and willing to pay for that feeling that obviously makes you feel so good.

How to Build and Manage Your Brand (in sickness and in health)

My newly updated e-book, "How to Build and Manage Your Brand (in sickness and in health)" is now available. New sections include: How to uncover the warning signs of an unhealthy brand, The 13 warning signs of an unhealthy brand and When and how to kill or retire a brand.

In this work, I discuss image, identity, awareness, brand preference, brand equity and more critical-to-understand branding concepts while also describing the brand management process. Includes a thorough discussion of "The 10 Steps in Building a Powerhouse Brand", outlines the Brand Audit process, and reveals why you must educate people about your brand with both emotional and logical appeals. Two special bonus sections: Positioning Workshop and Integrated Marketing Communications are also included.

On customer-driven marketing...

"This may seem simple, but you need to give customers what they want, not what you think they want. And, if you do this, people will keep coming back."
- John Ilhan

Wal-Mart, brand killer? Maybe not.

BrandChannel.com has an article that discusses the prospect of Wal-Mart as a brand killer.

Some claim that Wal-Mart is a brand killer because of its enormous buying power and ubiquity. Wal-Mart can buy for less because it has such power and therefore sell for less than any competitor. Wal-Mart represents such a wide distribution channel that some brand managers think they cannot afford for their brands to be left off the retailer’s shelves.

So the brand managers think.

If you are a brand manager, you must stop to ask yourself, "Does my brand belong in Wal-Mart?"

Many people realize that Wal-Mart is not always the smartest choice. It is not the trendiest. It is not the most exclusive. It is not where you are likely to find the highest quality. It is not the place to go if you are hoping to find products that deliver a bit more than you expect. It IS the place to go if you are looking for a functional product at a low price.

Think about your brand in those terms. Do you consider your brand a commodity item where you can compete almost exclusively on price? If so, then maybe Wal-Mart is a good channel for your brand.

If your brand, however, is highly differentiated from its competition and promises superior value, then perhaps your brand does not belong in Wal-Mart right next to a generic alternative selling for less money. That might actually hurt your brand.

Just because you can get your brand in front of millions of shoppers per day does not mean it is the right thing to do for your brand.

That being said, there will always be room for other retail outlets to find ways to successfully compete against Wal-Mart with highly differentiated brands.

Certainly, there is room for all and the symbiosis will only be a benefit for all consumers.

What's up with the teeth?

And while we're on the topic of oral health, Ken Magill over at Direct Magazine mysteriously got subscribed to an e-newsletter about toothpaste thus proving once again that just because marketers can talk about something and they can do so cheaply and directly using the Internet doesn't mean that they should.

(Free Clip Art Provided by Artclips.com. Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved.)

The $30, 000 toothbrush

Mike Wagner at www.OwnYourBrand.com tells an interesting story about how a forgotten toothbrush on a business trip and subsequent brand dereliction on the part of a hotel employee could result in losses of $30,000 to the hotel.

This should serve as a simple reminder to all brand owners that often it is the little brand promises that make a huge difference. All brand owners and brand managers would be wise to instill in their organizational cultures the importance of delivering on all brand promises every time. Even the little promises.

Often, your brand is in the hands of that employee on the front line who might be having a bad day, might not care or just doesn't understand the importance of delivering on band promises.

Do U.S. news media outlets have a branding problem?

It used to be that news outlets in the U.S. were viewed as fair, objective, politically-neutral and fact-based. Do they now have a branding problem?

Check out the article at:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070809222839.jzdcwmy8&show_article=1.

It seems that news media outlets have a branding problem. Their core values are perceived to be forgotten and it seems to me that yes, I trust news much less than I used to and many "news" articles are written and reported from an agenda-driven angle.

What do they need to do to fix their brands? Can they fix their brands at all?

Please update your feed to this branding and marketing blog

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The relationship between brand values and organizational mission

One often sees organizations whose messages and brand values are so far removed from the overall organizational mission that, if viewed in isolation, they reflect no connection to the core values of the organization. This disconnect represents a missed opportunity to build stronger, more valuable brands and organizations.

This gap between brand communication and organizational mission can be understood by analyzing the traditional way brands are managed.

Many traditional brands are individually guided by managers who compete for resources and a greater stake in the power structure of the organization. When brands are managed in such territorial silos, it is far too easy for them to drift further and further away from the company's core mission.

In never-ending initiatives to make their own brands stand out and get noticed within the organization, brand managers are lured into adjusting and "refining" brand communications so they attract attention. These brand managers often fall prey to the temptation to create edgy and progressive brand messages that capture attention and stir passion-but do more overall harm than good because they fail to foster organizational goals or promote core brand values.

In contrast, the goal of solid brand communication strategy should be to support and echo strategic goals and communicate core brand values both internally and externally in a manner that resonates with all stakeholders and sells brand value.

Branding e-books with free audio book on branding

For only a limited amount of remaining time, get a free 25-minute audio book on branding with the purchase of either of my e-books:

How to Build and Maintain A Powerhouse Brand
and/or

How to Brand and Market A Commodity

Get
both e-books together and save over 20%

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Self-branding/Self-introduction

Have you ever had a chance encounter with someone who could help you achieve your career goals? Were you satisfied that you made the most out of the opportunity to talk with that person?

If you are like most people, every once in a while you have an opportunity to talk with someone that can offer you a job or help your career in some fashion. Sometimes this meeting is a 30-second encounter at the coffee pot in the morning. Other times it is an introduction at an informal gathering or meeting. Still other times, you have the opportunity to introduce yourself to another person and rather than make the most of it, you avoid the situation altogether.

What stops us in these situations? Is it fear? Is it shyness? Often times, we take a pass on these great opportunities because they occur at times when we are not expecting them and they catch us off guard. There may be only a few brief moments to take action and we don't know what to do or say.

I would like you to prepare in advance for these situations. Perform the following exercise to help you take advantage of such situations.

Imagine that you are in the middle of a job search. You and a friend agree to meet for lunch one day. Your friend happens to work at a company for which you would very much like to work. You made arrangements to meet your friend at her office and then go out to lunch together.

As you are walking down the hall together, a person comes walking down the hall the other way. As this person approaches you, your friend stops and briefly introduces you.

"Dr. Hutchins", she says, "I'd like you to meet my friend". Dr. Hutchins happens to be the VP of the department for which you would like to work.

You shake hands with Dr. Hutchins---and then what?

I would like you to think about what you would say. Let's call this "The 10 Second Drill".

The 10 Second Drill is simple in concept, more complicated in practice. Develop a brief yet powerful way to introduce yourself that tells someone a little bit about who you are and what you can do to help them in 10 seconds or less. Come up with an introduction that "hooks" the other person, draws them in, and makes them want to know more about you. Make a lasting impression! Once you develop a strong introduction, practice it with your friends and ask them for feedback. Perfect your self-introduction so that it comes naturally to you when you say it. Consider the following examples:

"Hi. I'm Joe Smith. I love to help people get the most out of life by showing them better ways to manage their time".

"Hello, my name is Janet Johnson and I'm an expert in helping organizations make sure they hire the right people".

"My name is Robert Zimmerman and I have found new ways to increase revenue by designing successful online marketing campaigns".

These introductions all tell us a little bit about these people and what they do. These introductions also make us want to ask a few more questions to learn more about these people. That is exactly what a good introduction should do.

In the field of marketing, we talk about the importance of Unique Selling Proposition, or USP, all the time. The 10 Second Drill is really a strong introduction that communicates the unique selling proposition of your personal brand in just a few seconds. Think about this introduction in terms of it being a headline or just a few bullet points that describe who you are and how you can help others.

Think about how to best sum up yourself in this 10 second introduction. Practice "The 10 Second Drill." A strong and powerful first impression might launch your career or your brand to higher levels of success than you ever imagined.

Until next time...quick...I have to get to a meeting...tell me a little about yourself.

Self-Marketing

Are you looking for ways to get that next promotion or make yourself more marketable within your profession? If so, a great way to have a more successful career is to wisely promote your accomplishments and use effective self-marketing techniques to make yourself more visible and let your accomplishments be known.

In order to understand how important self- marketing is, think beyond your current position. Think about what your next career step will be and how you can start positioning yourself for it now.

Do you think you would have a difficult time providing evidence that supports your qualifications for your next job or assignment? If so, then you need to start promoting your accomplishments and begin your self-marketing efforts immediately.

Self-marketing is a learned skill. It is never too late in your career to teach yourself effective self-marketing techniques. One of the keys to successful self-marketing is clearly identifying your goals and knowing what direction you are taking your career. Firmly understanding your career direction will dictate the most important accomplishments to promote and also dictate *how* you should go about promoting them.

As leading management consultant Tom Peters states, "you must advertise". You must create a "brand". That brand is you. Become known as the guru in your specialty then advertise and sell your brand. The more well-known you become, the easier it gets.

Here are few self-marketing and promotional tactics you can employ to promote your accomplishments and improve your career:

1. Let people in your organization know when you meet with success. Send out an email, memo, or project report outlining the process you used and report the measurable results you obtained. One bit of warning if you choose to use email: Assume your e-mail can and will be forwarded outside your department and organization. You should never disseminate proprietary information or divulged any company secrets.

2. Convert your accomplishments into tip sheets by documenting the process so others can repeat for themselves what you did. Can you convert your success stories into one-page "case studies" that would have an appeal to a broader audience?. This type of document can go a long way in enhancing your credibility, creating awareness, and highlighting your professional standing.

To create your case studies, a) Outline the process giving an overview or scope of the project. Then b) List the major steps you executed and describe the rationale behind those steps. Most importantly, c) Quantify the results and the positive impact they had on your organization.

Tip sheets and case studies are great to circulate at association meetings or when meeting new prospects or existing customers. They might even come in handy during your next job interview. You should not overlook the possibility of submitting these case studies to trade journals, professional magazines, or newsletters. If you can help others by reporting your results, they will be grateful and remember where they got the information.

3. Conduct an ongoing campaign to make others aware of your successes. Avoid being overtly boastful, but assertively tell others about your accomplishments in terms of the actions taken to support organizational goals and objectives. Winners can always tell you about a very recent success so be ready with your own stories of a recent "win" you were responsible for in your organization.

4. Look for opportunities to get published. You can do this by writing articles or contributing to company or industry newsletters, submitting tips to trade publications, journals, magazines, or local newspapers and business journals. Getting published will increase your visible and provide you professional credibility.

5. Look for opportunities to speak to groups. Public speaking is one of the best ways to let other people know what you do and how you do it so they may benefit. Presenting to groups establishes you as an expert and gives you an avenue to network and increase your visibility.

6. Always put your team's accomplishments ahead of your own. Try to get as much done through others as possible and share the credit. Your name will soon be associated with winning teams and people within and outside your organization will notice.

7. Network with others in your profession and industry. Keep track of who's doing what and who's going where and make sure others know exactly what you are doing. Cultivate a strong, effective network and share war stories.

8. Keep score of your accomplishments using a written list or by updating your résumé frequently. Your accomplishments will soon be forgotten if you don't write them down and keep track of them.

One of the best ways to know you are executing your promotional and self-marketing tactics properly is when you can create a powerful 10- second introduction. Your succinct introduction lets others know who you are and what you do. You should be able to state your introduction within the first 10 seconds of meeting a person and word it in such a way that it "hooks" them so they want to ask questions in order to learn more about you.

If you promote yourself properly and use effective self-marketing techniques, you will make yourself stand out above the pack and get noticed. Diligently practice these techniques and you will put yourself on the career fast track.

Stay tuned, that 10-second self-introduction will be my next post.

(Originally published in 1999 by Dave Dolak)

How to communicate your brand

Do not underestimate the importance of strong copy and do not overestimate the importance of graphic design when creating marketing communications materials for your brand. Focus on the message, not the image. People choose substance over style -- regardless of what your ad agency might be telling you.

An effective headline is critical.

The headline:

- Attracts attention
- Communicates a strong benefit or your most compelling one
- Appeals to the self-interest of the reader. It answers the question, "What's in it for me?"
- Sets the tone for the offer
- A headline acts like a marquee does for a movie theatre and selects the right audience

In short, to effectively convey your brand,

Say the right things
to the right people
in the right way
at the right time, and
do it consistently over time and
across many different communication channels.

Then you are on your way to to effectively telling the right audience about why they should prefer you brand over every other brand in the category.

Blog Marketing

As a follow-up to my previous post, Jeremy Wright has a blog in support of his book, "Blog Marketing" where he posts large portions of the chapters from the book in his blog for all to read. There is some great information in there on the basics of using a blog for marketing and promotional purposes.

If you are reading this you are ahead of the curve

Thanks to Douglas Karr, we are able to put this blogging thing into perspective. Outside the blogosphere, most corporations are still struggling to understand blogging. Please click on the link above to read Douglas's great responses to these questions.

Top Ten Questions on Blogging from Companies:

1. What’s blogging?
2. Why should we blog?
3. What’s the difference between blogging and a website?
4. What’s the difference between blogging and a web forum?
5. How much does it cost?
6. How often should we do it?
7. Should we host our blog on our website or use a hosted solution?
8. What about negative comments?
9. Can more than one person blog?
10. How do we control our brand?

Riblet pancakes?

So IHOP is buying Applebees, eh? It will be interesting to see what they do with this suffering brand.

When Applebees started out, it was positioned as a neighborhood, casual restaurant but recently has tried to go slightly upscale with a newer menu.

In my opinion, Applebees could use a bit of an update. With lots of casual dining options out there, Applebees has not made its case to me recently as to why I should eat there. They ought to focus on the one or two superior experiences or features they can offer and then tell everyone what those are and why they are important. Sure, they have a diverse menu, but it is not clear to me what they offer that I can't also find somewhere else.

What do you think IHOP could do with Applebees to strengthen the brand?

Writing taglines: The good, the bad and the ugly (but mostly the bad)

Nick Wreden has a great blog entry at http://fusionbrand.blogs.com/fusionbrand/2007/06/how_to_write_a_.html that describes how NOT to write a tagline.

He points out that forming consensus through a committee and confusing your tagline with your brand are huge mistakes when writing taglines. It is definitely worth the read.

Read this and you’ll never drink from a STYROFOAM TM cup again

I was intrigued back in April when I saw a full-page ad from Dow Chemical Company in Brandweek magazine that was intended to do nothing but clarify the STYROFOAM^TM brand, counteract any consumer confusion and avoid possible generic attachment of the STYROFOAM^TM brand name to the broader foam category.



You see, STYROFOAM^TM brand insulation is the trade name for Dow’s extruded polystyrene foam that is most commonly blue when used as an insulating building material and less commonly green or white when used in the floral or craft markets. It turns out, STYROFOAM^TM is not used in the manufacture of disposable foam products, such as food packaging, cups, plates, coolers or egg trays. Therefore, foam cups are actually never made from STYROFOAM^TM.

The last sentence of text in the Brandweek ad states, “We appreciate that STYROFOAM^TM is a household name. But since we’ve worked so hard over the years to produce the best insulation in the industry, we kindly request proper usage. Please join us in the effort to put the lid on misuse of our intellectual property."

Wow.

Here is a brand that understands that it is so universally recognized (and mistaken for the broader category) that it runs the risk of committing genericide and it is trying to set the record straight. This is exactly what one needs to do to prevent one's brand name from becoming generic.

Not only is there a lesson for branders to learn from STYROFOAM^TM (see my previous post), but the brand is asking for our help in stopping misuse of the trade name. I am happy to oblige.

So maybe the next time you hear somebody ask for a beverage in a STRYOFOAM^TM cup you’ll help protect the brand by setting the record straight.

For a list of trademark guidelines for STYROFOAM^TM brand products, please visit:
http://craft.dow.com/profcr/trademark.htm

Hand me an Aspirin, my brand just committed genericide

Superb brand promotion and category dominance can actually lead to your brand being declared "generic".

While this type of success is unlikely for most brands, Trampoline, Escalator, Thermos and Aspirin learned the hard way that genericide is a very real thing.

Here's a short article that describes how marketers can avoid the genericide trap for their brands.

In short, be ready to legally defend the misuse of your brand names, run periodic campaigns to counteract any consumer confusion and manage the marketing mix to avoid possible generic attachment of the brand name to the broader category.

In my next post we'll take a look at a powerful brand making the right moves to avoid genericide.

Do you really want brand awareness?

Brand awareness is when people recognize your brand as yours. This does not necessarily mean they prefer your brand (brand preference), attach a high value to, or associate any superior attributes to your brand. It just means they recognize your brand and can identify it under different conditions.

If you are trying to establish or build your brand then, you must stop and ask yourself, "Do I want to build high brand awareness or do I want something more?"

What is brand equity?

Brand Equity is the sum total of all the different values people attach to the brand, or the holistic value of the brand to its owner as a corporate asset. Brand equity can include: the monetary value or the amount of additional income expected from a branded product over and above what might be expected from an identical, but unbranded product; the intangible value associated with the product that can not be accounted for by price or features; and the perceived quality attributed to the product independent of its physical features.

A brand is nearly worthless unless it enjoys some equity in the marketplace. Without brand equity, you simply have a commodity product.

Brand equity is completely different from brand awareness.

Hmm. I guess you know what post will come next...

Why is branding important?

A brand is an identifiable entity that makes some specific promise of value.

Branding is used to create emotional attachment to products and companies. Branding efforts create a feeling of involvement, a sense of higher quality, and an aura of intangible qualities that surround the brand name, mark, or symbol.

Successful branding efforts build strategic awareness where people not only recognize your brand, but they also understand the distinctive qualities that make it better than the competition. Branding is more important today than ever due to ever-increasing advertising clutter, media fragmentation, the commoditization of products, and the seemingly limitless choices we are offered in just about every product category.

As marketers, we need to work hard to ensure that we are offering our customers strong brands that are clearly differentiated and that offer clear, real value and unique benefits. The need for branding has never been greater.

Here are just a few benefits you will enjoy when you create a strong brand:

• A strong brand influences the buying decision and shapes the ownership experience.
  
• Branding creates trust and an emotional attachment to your product or company. This attachment then causes your market to make decisions based, at least in part, upon emotion-- not necessarily just for logical or intellectual reasons.
  
• A strong brand can command a premium price and maximize the number of units that can be sold at that premium.
  
• Branding helps make purchasing decisions easier. In this way, branding delivers a very important benefit. In a commodity market where features and benefits are virtually indistinguishable, a strong brand will help your customers trust you and create a set of expectations about your products without even knowing the specifics of product features.
  
• Branding will help you "fence off" your customers from the competition and protect your market share while building mind share. Once you have mind share, you customers will automatically think of you first when they think of your product category.
  
• A strong brand can make actual product features virtually insignificant. A solid branding strategy communicates a strong, consistent message about the value of your company. A strong brand helps you sell value and the intangibles that surround your products.
  
• A strong brand signals that you want to build customer loyalty, not just sell product. A strong branding campaign will also signal that you are serious about marketing and that you intend to be around for a while. A brand impresses your firm's identity upon potential customers, not necessarily to capture an immediate sale but rather to build a lasting impression of you and your products.
  
• Branding builds name recognition for your company or product.
  
• A brand will help you articulate your company's values and explain why you are competing in your market.

What's in your mind?

Can a ThinkPad be from a Chinese company named Lenovo or will ThinkPad forever be something from IBM?

I'm curious to hear from readers how they view these brands.

Marketing & Branding professionals: Speakers wanted

There is a new service over at www.BrandTrellis.com where professional speakers on topics of marketing and branding can post an online profile at no charge so that those seeking such speakers may find them. There is already the beginning of a very impressive list of speakers and we hope you'll join in the efforts to continue to build this resources.

Whether you are a professional speaker looking for engagements or you represent a group seeking a speaker, this resource will only become more valuable to you as more people participate.

Defending your brand...against the devil?

Procter & Gamble has won a lawsuit to the order of $19M USD against 4 people who were spreading rumors that the brand supported satanic worship. These folks intended to damage P&G's brand because they worked for a rival company.

We've all heard the urban myth about the P&G logo, but it is comforting to know that in this day and age of people saying just about whatever they want about brands--especially online--that some brand stewards will defend their brand equity and fight to protect their brands against slander.

Way to go P&G!

New branding forum

There's a new forum with discussion threads dedicated to brands and branding topics over at www.BrandTrellis.com/forum.

Message boards currently include the topics:
Branding Blogs & Websites
Branding Basics
Jobs & Employment
Advertising & Media
Logo & Identity Topics
Entrepreneurial/Small Business Branding
and
Brand Rants & Raves

Hopefully the forum will catch on and be a great meeting place for brand marketers and those with an interest in business branding.

Consumer-generated ads

Is it just me or are there others of you out there who believe that consumer-generated ads are a result of marketing and brand managers who either have no clue how to manage their brands or are just plain lazy?

The Brand Pathway

Denise Lee Yohn has developed a very useful model for understanding your brand and then translating it into customer experiences. Her model is called The Brand Pathway.

On the continuum from Company Mission to Customer Experience, her steps are to answer the following questions about your brand:

1) What is our mission?
2) What business are we in?
3) What is our core belief?
4) What are our essential equities?
5) What are our differentiating attributes?
6) What is our persoanlity and style?
7) What is the customer experience?

Denise's pathway is certainly a solid model to help you understand the bare bones basics about what branding is all about. Start with a deep understanding of who and what you are, make specific promises of value, and then translate it all into exceptional customer experiences. This is truly a refreshing, back-to-basics take on banding.

Authentic branding

I've heard and read too much about how to strive to be authentic in order to help build your brand. The path to achieve branding Nirvana, according to self-proclaimed experts, too often journeys through the need to understand your brand values and then act in "authentic" ways to support those values.

I think maybe the people putting forth this drivel are 180-degrees out of phase.

Have they ever stopped to consider that perhaps strong brands arise from living authentically according to values that are core to the organization before any marketing is considered?

Strong brands naturally flow from adherence to clear organizational values, beliefs and behavior... not the other way around.

Revitalize your brand and refine your communication strategy

Luth Research and MiresBall in conjunction with the American Marketing Association have recently released a "State of the Brand Report" that reports some interesting information about the current state of branding. According to the report, branding has become more important to companies than ever before and marketing spending, on average, is up to 11% of annual revenue. Of the companies surveyed, 8 out of 10 brands were revitalized in the last 5 years thus underscoring the need to keep brands relevant.

As I discuss in my e-book, "How to Build and Maintain a Powerhouse Brand", regular brand audits are necessary to assess the health of your brand. Your brand equity constantly changes in comparison to your competition just as society's values and perceptions change constantly. When the image and brand equity of your brand in the marketplace is not consistent with the image you are trying to create, then you must refine your branding strategy and project the newly refined identity.

The "State of the Brand Report" stresses the importance of being committed to the ongoing maintenance of brands. Brand owners are also encouraged to break away from traditional brand communication strategies due to the explosion of new communications outlets and subsequent media fragmentation.

The study, among other things, reports that the most important brand communication vehicles currently are (in order):

1. Word-of-mouth
2. Web & interactive
3. Customer service
4. Public relations
5. Print advertising
6. Internal communications
7. Corporate communications
8. Promotional events
9. Co-marketing
10. Community and affinity groups
11. Direct mail
12. Sponsorships
13. Broadcast advertising
14. Packaging and POP
15. Outdoor advertising

The report is well worth your time to read.

A simple brand test

Are you confident that everyone in your organization knows and understands what it takes to build your brand?

Tomorrow at work, stop everyone you meet in your organization and ask them this one simple question: "What do you have to do to deliver on our brand promise?"

Ask the question and then remain silent and listen.

When you get back to your office, write down all the answers you hear.

You might just gain a better understand about your brand and how to better communicate it to the outside world. I'll also bet your next action plan will focus within your four walls before you worry about that big, nasty outside world of customers.

Small business & entrepreneurial branding

Have you ever wondered how small business owners and entrepreneurs might have an advantage over large companies when it comes to building a powerful and successful brand?

When it comes to building a powerhouse brand, the little guys have a huge advantage over the big guys because small businesses and entrepreneurs do not suffer from organizational inertia and usually the vision of the founder of the company is closely linked to the essence of the brand and embedded in the organization. Entrepreneurs have a chance to build entire businesses based on a powerful brand promise while large companies tend to drift away from the original promise that made them compelling and then they foolishly spend millions to try to "re-brand" which may or may not be possible.

I'm researching my next book on small business and entreprenuial branding and want your questions, feedback and case studies now! You can participate in the writing of this next book by letting me know what information about small business and entrepreneurial branding you think is most important to cover. Also, if you have a small business branding case study, please share it with me and if it is appropriate, it might just make it in the book.

Please fill out my brief questionnaire at www.BrandTrellis.com if you have an interest.

Top 150 Marketing Blogs

Todd And is currently tracking the top 150 marketing blogs by using a variety of rankings plus his own weighting system to make the determinations. Check it out because you'll find a wealth of quality marketing blogs on this list.

Online branding

Rich McIver has written a very good piece about how to build your brand on the web. His article, "Little Known Ways to Brand on the Cheap: 99 Tips for Poor Web Startups", offers excellent tips on how to build an online brand whether you are a blogger or simply trying to build your brand online.

A brand is an identifiable entity that makes some specific promise of value. Those brands that need to communicate that value online will almost assuredly find something useful in Rich's tip sheet.